


Crossfire

by DarkElements10



Series: The Flash and The Flame [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Angst, Drama, F/M, Humor, Novelization, Romance, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 11:56:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14790063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkElements10/pseuds/DarkElements10
Summary: SEQUEL TO FLASH FIRE. After defeating the Suicide Squad and the Assassination Bureau, Barry turns to face the Man in Yellow. Add in the Rogues and a mysterious BlackFlash and Barry is struggling to keep ahead of the chaos. Cadence is caught in the crossfire of resentment and revenge. Her only option to fall back to her old ways; she may betray Barry again. -S1- Barry/OC slowburn.





	Crossfire

**Author's Note:**

> This story is completely finished and posted on Fanfiction.net on the profile DarkElements10.

**Crossfire**

**By: Riley**

**Full Summary** **–** [Sequel to Flash Fire]. After the fall of the Suicide Squad and Assassination Bureau, Barry turns his sights back to the Man in Yellow whose identity is heavily guarded. Add in the return of the Rogues and a mysterious Black Flash and Barry finds himself struggling to keep ahead of the chaos. Back from Metropolis, Cadence has a newfound appreciation of her life and her friends in Central City while furthering control of her powers. But she soon becomes caught in the crossfire of deep-seeded resentment and revenge with her only option being to turn to a point in her life she never wanted to return. It's only a matter of time until everything comes to a head. Every revolution begins with a spark.

R **ated T** : For language, violence, and mature themes

 **Pairings** : Barry/OC slow burn, SnowWells, SnowStorm, WestThawne

Some one-sided WestAllen, some Roy/OC

 **Warnings** : Some heavy, goreish violence and mature content

* * *

**.:1:.**

* * *

"Momma, are we there yet?"

Cadence Nash smiled into the rearview mirror and watched as Brady lifted his head, rubbing at his eyes. "We're almost there, bud. Don't worry." Her son let out a light yawn, barely nodding before he drifted off once more. Hand over hand; the fire metahuman turned the steering wheel, driving closer to their apartment. There was a brief moment of silence until light snoring filled the car once more.

"Wow, the little guy can really sleep can't he?" The young man sitting in the passenger seat remarked, twisting around to watch Brady. He turned his attention back to Cadence, smoothing his blond hair off his forehead. "I think he's slept the whole way back."

"Thankfully I had the foresight to let him stay up as long as he wanted," Cadence said with a light tilt of her head. "I don't think I could take another round of his constant questions." She shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I love that he's so inquisitive. But there's only so much I can take sometimes, you know?"

"I'll take your word for it."

The unspoken tension that had surrounded the trio since they left Metropolis that morning immediately rose. It was late in the afternoon, almost dusk and they had managed to hold off on the conversation topic nearly all day. She should've known it was going to come up at some point or another, shame on her for wishful thinking. "Please, don't be like that, Ryder, I'm trying my best."

Ryder Moseley drummed his hands on his thighs as he sighed impatiently. He lowered his voice as he spoke, making sure Brady couldn't hear. "I just don't understand why you didn't introduce me to Brady as his father when you knew I'm going to be in Central City for a while. I have a big client who wants me there to oversee the entire project." He tugged at the neck of his flannel shirt and turned towards the fire metahuman, waiting for her response.

He received a light snort and a raised eyebrow in response. "I'm sorry, I was little blindsided by the fact that my Mom thought it was a good idea to _not_ mention you were going to be carpooling with us until we were about to leave."

At the mention of her mother, Maya Nash, Cadence shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Going back to Metropolis to confront her parents had been nothing short of hard. As a matter of fact, many times on the way up she had contemplated turning the car around and going back to Central City. But her parents had been excited to know she was going and Brady could barely sit still at the mention of seeing his grandparents again. But there was so much she needed to get off her chest; how they had kicked her out, how they had wanted to take Brady from her as they didn't believe she could handle being a teen mom, how she now knew that Wells was her real father and they had kept that from her…a lot of stuff. She could admit she had blindsided them having waited until after dessert the first day to tell them she knew that they weren't her real parents. They had reacted as she expected them to, first with shock, then curious as to how she figured it out, then with guilt. And Cadence had explained everything she could about coming into contact with Dr. Wells, without mentioning anything about the rest of STAR Labs and fighting metahumans. They already knew her abilities; they didn't need to know how much danger she put herself and Brady in. Not when it was going to give them the opportunity to try and talk her into leaving him in Metropolis again.

But compared to everything else, that was a blip on the radar of what her life had become. Her life in Central City had been relatively normal until she met Barry Allen, until she _had_ to meet Barry Allen and everything went to hell. She had thought meeting him, meeting another metahuman made things easier. She could finally be herself and that had worked well, too as the man who got struck by lightning slowly figured out his own powers. But then it had come to light that she was working with the Assassination Bureau, whom had been using her to get to Barry to get to Dr. Wells because he was the one that had created the Particle Accelerator, and wanted to kill him to steal his resources. However they also worked along with the Suicide Squad, which made them strong to the point that she and Bary needed help from Team Arrow to defeat them. Thankfully the team-up of Team Flash and Team Arrow had succeeded, but not before Breathtaker, the head of the Assassintaion Bureau, had managed to do massive amounts of damage to Central City. The only way it could be reversed and all of the residents to forget was by getting Breathtaker to reverse things as well as erase the minds of everyone other than Team Flash and Team Arrow. But in return he was released with the rest of the Assassination Bureau and the Suicide Squad.

Of course that was something she wasn't going to forget, but her anxiety around Ryder was starting to become commonplace.

"I can understand that," Ryder agreed. "But she's just trying to help. I mean, if it weren't for _my_ Mom and Dad I'd at least think we were still friends."

That had been another can of worms. Being back in a city where everyone knew her business before she left had been strange. While they still didn't know about her abilities or her friends in Central City, which had been more of a blessing than she thought it would be, seeing the double-takes that arose whenever she and Brady walked by had been enough for her to want to turn tail and hold up in her home.

But then she remembered everything she and the rest of STAR Labs had managed to accomplish a few months before, and was filled with confidence once more. Enough so that despite seeing Ryder walk through the front door of her home hadn't thrown her off as much as she thought it would. It truly hadn't been his fault, she remembered, that he hadn't been around. His parents had kept him back, even had him transferred to a prestigious boarding school shortly after the news of her pregnancy broke.

She still remembered how he had told her; in the foyer of her house with his parents flanking his sides. She stood in front of him, her excitement to see that he was coming over quickly diminishing when she caught a glimpse of his face. His gaze was lowered to his feet and he spoke quietly, almost robotically as he said, "I'm leaving."

Cadence's face had screwed up as she placed her hands on her hips, painfully aware of how strange the gesture would soon become as her stomach continued to increase in size. "What do you mean you're leaving?"

"Ryder's application to the prestigious Webb School of California for Boys has been graciously accepted," Mrs. Moseley said with a tight smile, reaching out and resting her hand on Ryder's shoulder. His head lowered even further. "We have been trying for years for him to get into the school, especially as his grandfather's legacy is something that is highly spoken of, and we're excited that he will be starting there next month."

Eyebrows furrowing together, Cadence looked back and forth from Mr. and Mrs. Moseley, noticing the snide inflection in Mrs. Moseley's tone as she spoke. It had been something the wealthy woman always seemed to have, though seldom used in regards to Cadence. She had routinely turned a warm glance her way. Now it was filled with barely concealed disdain as she glanced towards the teenage girl's stomach which only barely began to show.

"We hope you understand that despite the circumstances, this is an opportunity that Ryder really can't pass up," Mr. Moseley continued. "This is something that will open many doors for him."

"And having a kid will keep him here, right?" Cadence snapped, her temper already starting to flare. She wasn't stupid; she knew exactly what they were doing. And the fact that her parents were staying silent behind her, she couldn't take. Glaring, she rounded on her now ex-boyfriend. "Is this what you want, too?"

Eyes still downcast, he glanced over at his parents from under his fringe, licking his lips. She recognized his nervous habit just as much as he cracked his fingers when he was angry. Then he took a step towards Cadence and started to reach out for her hand, but she pulled it back. "No," he said under his breath, hoping his parents wouldn't her him. "You know I want to be here for the baby. For us. You know how excited I was when you first told me."

"But Ryder has agreed that it's something he can't pass up and will be leaving for California tomorrow so that he can be settled in before his term starts."

Cadence whirled around on Mr. and Mrs. Moseley and started to say something, but her father reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders. She looked up towards him and he shook his head at her before leaning over towards Mr. Moseley and held out his hand. "We're very excited for the opportunity that Ryder has and we wish him all the best."

Nodding in agreement, Maya clasped her hands together in front of her. "We'd be glad to help you in any way we can—"

"—I'm sure we can handle it, but thank you for the offer." Mr. Moseley cleared his throat before looking at his watch. "Ryder, please say goodbye to Cadence so we can get going." Cadence glared at him and opened her mouth to say something but lowered her head, knowing it wasn't going to help. She didn't know what hurt worse, knowing she was the reason he was being sent away or not being able to say anything about it.

No, it was knowing that loving her boyfriend, who had also decided to take that step in their relationship, had caused her to be the catalyst that 'ruined his life' and her parents weren't doing anything to defend her. The fire metahuman kept her head bowed as Ryder walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her in a light hug. She didn't hug him back; she didn't have the emotional strength, no matter how much she wanted him to stay.

"I love you, Cadey," he whispered into her ear. "I'm sorry." He let go and backed away with one last meaningful glance before turning on his heel and following his parents out of the Nashes' house.

She tried to block that memory out as best she could, to leave everything behind her as she went on to Central City but it popped back up whenever she felt her most vulnerable. After sitting in a car for a couple of hours with him where they avoided he topic like the plague, she was surprised they managed to stay quiet for so long.

"Well…I don't feel like killing you so there's that." Cadence smiled as Ryder laughed causing the fire metahuman to laugh along with him. She pulled up to the curb and turned off the car. Cadence got out of the front seat and turned to Ryder. Crossing her arms, she rested them on the hood of the car. "Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off at your hotel?"

"Nah, you've already driven this far, I can take the bus," Ryder replied. He closed the passenger door and shoved his hands into his pockets. There was a brief pause between them. "I heard you're going back into residency after taking some time off. That's great."

"Yeah, I had some things I had to deal with…"—if you counted a metahuman uprising that threatened the city as things to deal with—"some things I'm still working on." Then her mind shifted towards her friends at STAR Labs; Barry and Caitlin and Cisco and Wells…how she was dealing with all of the revelations that had driven her to return to Metropolis after years away. Before she left they said they were there to help her whenever she needed it, she knew they were being sincere. "But I've gotten some more help now so I think I'll be able to do it."

"I think so, too. You've wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. All of the times you used me as your guinea pig was enough of a hint."

"You're still freaked out about the whole ingrown hair incident aren't you?"

"There are many things that neither a man, nor a woman, need to see." Ryder smiled and looked at his watch. "I have to get going or I'm going to miss check in." He turned towards the backset and noticed that Brady was still fast asleep. Noticing his gaze, Cadence went around to the back passenger seat of the car and opened it. She reached in an unbuckled Brady from his seat and picked him up, balancing him against her hip as she backed out of the car. Ryder reached in and pulled his duffle bag out of the backseat. Cadence caught a glimpse of the hurt in his eyes, but he masked it in seconds. "I guess I'll see you guys around, then."

"Yeah," Cadence agreed with a light nod. "It was good to see you, Ryder."

"It was good to see you, too, Cadence," Ryder replied.

He placed his duffle bag over his shoulder before turning and walking down the street to the bus stop. Locking her car, she went into the apartment building, being careful not to jostle Brady as she went. He continued to sleep soundly, cheek resting on her shoulder as she gathered their mail then headed up the stairwell. Once she was sure they were alone, she teleported into their apartment and walked Brady to his room. She tucked him in then teleported to her own room, falling onto her bed with a sigh.

She was asleep in a matter of minutes, knowing that while things in Metropolis had been calm, Central City was just about to wake up.

* * *

Absentmindedly, Barry Allen reached out and grabbed onto the packet of fries that sat beside him. Titling his head back, he dumped them out into his mouth before tossing the box aside and dusting off his hands. He turned back to the papers that sat on his desk and looked around before using his enhanced speed to flip through them, finishing up the paperwork of the last few cases that he and the rest of the CCPD had finished. When he was done, seconds later, he set the papers aside then used his super speed to clear away the trash that accumulated around his desk.

"I saw that."

Holding his breath, Barry whipped around before releasing it, finding Detective Joe West standing behind him with his hands on his hips. Now Barry's shoulders relaxed before he turned to Joe with a light roll of his eyes. "Are you trying to give me whiplash? I'm sure with my super speed it'll be much worse and my healing won't be able to fix it."

"I'm not the one that gallivants around my personal office with no care in the world," Joe pointed out. He walked over to the trash can and glanced inside then turned back to Barry with an expression of childish disbelief. "You didn't leave my any fries?"

"Unbelievable," Barry declared. He crossed his arms. "You have Big Belly Burger in your possession and people come flocking. You know Iris got that from you, right?" He then waved his arms up and down his body. "And hello? I need the calories."

"I thought that's why Cisco made those metahuman bars for you."

"And they're very filling but they don't taste as good as Big Belly Burger." Barry held up a finger. "Or cronuts, surprisingly." Joe laughed and shook his head, realizing that his daughter had indeed managed to get his foster son hooked onto the breakfast snack. "So what brings you up here? Don't you have some big case that you need to work on or avoid Captain Singh and his odd demands?"

"No, I think you're the only one that Captain Singh has a target for," Joe pointed out, causing the Flash to bob his head back and forth in agreement. Things hadn't really been smoothed over between his boss since his fiasco of being whammied. Now Barry tried to avoid him as much as he ever had. "No, I came up here to tell you to go home. You've been working overtime these past few weeks and I don't just mean here. You've been at STAR Labs a lot lately."

"Yeah, well, without Cade's help we've been doubling up on patrolling," Barry replied with a light shrug. "With all of the metas…" he trailed off, remembered that no one in the city apart from himself, Caitlin, Cisco, and Harrison remembered the massive metahuman uprising that had occurred within the city.

It was hard enough having to fend off the Assassination Bureau as it was the Suicide Squad helping them. But the riots that had befallen upon the city and the—miraculously little—damage that had accompanied it was something no one remembered. It had been part of Breathtaker's capture, he had to use his powers to create an illusion to those in Central City that nothing had gone on whilst Barry and Cadence moved as quickly as they could to clean up the mess. No one could know what happened before, not when they had managed to drive the Assassination Bureau out of the city.

"With all of the metas that are bound to come around, we thought it'd be a good idea to make sure we're checking things out as much as possible. Not to mention helping out the police every now and then." Barry cleared his throat as Joe gave him a pointed look. "And I've been working hard with Dr. Wells, to get faster and have been doing a lot of training."

"Well, you should make sure that you schedule some sleep in there sometime," Joe pointed out. He looked at his watch. "You shift is over for the day, so you're free to go." Barry nodded and Joe turned on his heel to leave the room. "Don't forget this weekend we're going on our annual Christmas shopping trip."

Barry groaned lightly. "Where Iris goes crazy buying everything in sight and you and I are dragged along with her. I don't know if you noticed, Joe, but Santa doesn't like it when I sit on his lap." He grinned as Joe burst out laughing.

"Yeah, well, I don't know anyone that would be so happy with _me_ sitting on their lap either. Tell everyone at STAR Labs that I say 'hi'."

"You got it."

Barry barely lifted his hand into a thumbs up before he zipped out of the CCPD and arrived at STAR Labs. He arrived at Level 600 and walked into the cortex, finding Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon in a heated discussion. He laughed lightly as he approached, hearing the conversation topic. "So you're telling me that if you had the chance to know how the rest of your life is going to play out, you wouldn't take it?" Cisco tilted his head as he gazed at Caitlin with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously?"

The bioengineer shrugged, leaning back in her seat and crossing her legs at the knee. "I'm just saying that there is a reason why there is a saying such as 'ignorance' is bliss'." At Cisco's snort she lifted a hand before dropping it back down to her thigh. "Don't you think that if you could see into the future, if you could see how your life is going to end up, that you wouldn't be the best person you can be anymore? You'll sit back and wait for everything to happen to you because it's supposed to rather than working hard for those achievements."

"Uh, no," Cisco denied. "If I could see into the future and saw who I was going to marry, I'd find her in a millisecond and make her fall in love with me that much faster. You don't get many chances to fall in love, my friend, especially not when you're me. And if I can figure out who it is, I'm good to go."

"That's an interesting sentiment Cisco, Caitlin, but you're forgetting one very simple thing that will make both of your points moot," Harrison said. He regarded the two with a smile, his blue eyes lighting up behind his glasses. "None of us have the ability to see into the future." As if knowing Barry was there the entire time, he didn't turn his head as he called, "Good afternoon, Mr. Allen."

Barry laughed and walked up to his friends, reaching out and resting his palms on the table, leaning forward a little as he gazed at his friends. "Is this what you guys do when I'm not around? You sit and talk about some of the most random things while you wait for me to get back? Your lives must be very boring without me."

"Barry, have we ever talked to you about your ego?" Caitlin said and the two smiled at each other. "How was work at the CCPD? Anything interesting come up?"

"If by 'interesting' you mean any crimes or metahumans needed to catch? No." Barry pulled the closest chair to him and sat down, crossing his legs as well. "I've just been doing a lot of paperwork today and let me tell you. That gets even more tedious when you have the ability to do them in a faction of the time it used to take."

"Well, not everyone has the ability to go through life in a matter of seconds," Cisco said. He turned back to his computer, bringing up a game of World of Warcraft, ignoring Harrison's disapproving glance. "It must be pretty boring to have so much time in the day to do whatever you want because you can do it so quickly."

"I don't know." Barry stretched his arms over his head before interlocking his fingers and resting his hands on his head. "I still have to wait for the next episode of the Walking Dead to come out. I didn't realize that a week was a long time until I got these powers. Now it's just torture." Laughter filled STAR Labs as Team Flash reveled in the few moments they had where nothing was going on in Central City. They were laughing so much they didn't hear another set of footsteps approaching their group.

"What's so funny?" Brady asked as he turned the corner and came into view.

Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, and Harrison turned around to face Cadence and Brady, all expressing sounds of surprise and excitement to see their friend. "Hey," Caitlin greeted, being the first one to get out of her seat, hurrying over to her best girl friend. "It's so good to see you!" She grabbed onto Cadence and the two hugged each other tightly, rocking back and forth.

"It's good to see you, too," Cadence replied, hugging her just as tightly.

"How was Metropolis?"

"Just as I remembered it and I'll leave it at that. I'm glad to be back." Cadence gave the bioengineer a knowing smile as they ended their hug. "Something told me that all of the testosterone around here was starting to get to you." She laughed when Caitlin shook her head, giving her a look that said 'you have no idea. The fire metahuman then turned to Cisco. "Hey Cisco! Have you been keeping my suit safe?"

"Yes!" He replied. "I even upgraded the functions of it. Let me tell you, I had to hold myself back from installing some of the same component that Barry's suit has, because I'm not sure how it'll look on yours; but I'm excited to get started now that you're here."

"Sounds good."

Brady reached the speedy metahuman first, wrapping his arms around Barry's waist. "Hey Brady, how's it going?" Barry leaned over and wrapped his arms around the young boy, rubbing his back. "Did you take good care of your Mom back in Metropolis?"

"Yeah," Brady replied. He titled his head back and smiled at the young man. "My Gramma and PaPa were really happy to see me. They gave me a new Nintendo DS." He took a step back, allowing his mother some space to give her friend a hug. "But I missed Central City. I like it here."

"That's good." Barry laughed and ruffled his hair before opening his arms for Cadence. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug. "Hey Cade. It's good to have you back. Central City was really quiet without you around."

"Why? Because I didn't talk as much?" Her voice was muffled around his neck, but he heard her all the same.

"No, because I missed you." Barry squeezed her again before he let go and took a step back, crossing his arms as he looked at her. "Congratulations, though, your name made it to Iris's blog. Looks like I have a sidekick."

"I missed you, too, Tholy." Cadence then reached out and lightly shoved him on the arm. Though they missed each other, as friends would do when apart for a while, they knew there was still the question of loyalty between them. The question that would probably take more time to be answered. "And don't think I didn't hear your sidekick remark. I'm no one's sidekick; this is an equal operation, especially because I've been a metahuman longer than you have."

Barry smiled and nodded, watching as Cadence turned to Harrison, who had been quiet throughout the whole exchange. He wasn't sure how things were between the two of them. Before she left she had said that she was willing to work on a relationship with him, but Harrison Wells always kept his private life as private as he could. He didn't know if they had spoken since she had left. His questions were answered as Cadence walked over to Harrison and leaned down to give him a hug.

"Hi, Harrison."

Harrison smiled and nodded as she pulled back. "It's good to see you, Cadence." He gently grasped his daughter's wrist before allowing her to pull back a little. "I'm glad you and Brady made it to Central City, safely."

"Well, it seems like Central and Starling City are the only places where crime and weird things are rampant. Nothing really happened in Metropolis that Superman couldn't handle and I haven't heard anything from Smallville in a while, anyway." The fire metahuman placed her hands on her hips, letting out a light sigh. "I'm glad to be back. It was just too quiet there."

All of a sudden there was a beeping sound that came out form Cisco's computer and he turned to lower his computer game. Scanning the screen for a moment, he turned back to the metahumans. "It looks like there's been a carjacking downtown. Five suspects with three fleeing on foot and two in the car." He turned around and grinned at Barry and Cadence. "Looks like things are going to be pretty noisy around here."

"Speak of the devil." Barry rubbed his hands together before smiling towards Cadence once more. "Welcome back to Central City, Cade."

Cadence grinned. "It's good to be back, Barry."

* * *

Overlooking the city, two lone figures sat along the edge of one of the tallest buildings. The one on the left watched intently, steel blue eyes trained on the fight going on below. His eyes zipped back and forth every few seconds as he watched a jolt of yellow light shifting around to catch a speeding car. As he sat there, he would lift his hand up and wave the smoke that wafted towards him out of his face, ignoring the sting it brought to his eyes.

He could risk looking away. He had to study his enemy.

To his left, creating the smoke was an even bigger man, who passed the time of their stakeout by striking matches and watching it burn down to his fingertips. It burned, it stung, and yet he enjoyed the pain brought upon him in a masochistic way. Pain was pleasure. Once the fire reached his hand he would wave the match until it went out and watched the smoke dancing and swirling through the sky. Then, as if discarding a wad of gum, he flicked the match over the side of the building and to the ground before striking up another one.

His attention was only brought towards the ground when the sight of a familiar glow caught his attention; the sight of flames appearing out of nowhere. And he was mesmerized, watching the flames roll around and dance in the frantic manner it always had, a large grin on his face.

The man on the left—Leonard Snart—slowly turned a smirk over towards his companion—Mick Rory—finding him to be as enthralled as he was.

It would be too easy.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is completely finished and posted on Fanfiction.net on the profile DarkElements10.


End file.
